Amato gets feisty (+commentary)

Update 3: So does LifeSiteNews.

Update 2: CWNews has coverage.

Sure, the Reuters reporting is slanted, but reading between the lines you can pick up that Amato wasn't pulling any punches. Good for him.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican's second-highest ranking doctrinal official on Monday forcefully branded homosexual marriage an evil and denounced abortion and euthanasia as forms of "terrorism with a human face."

The attack by Archbishop Angelo Amato, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was the latest in a string of speeches made by either Pope Benedict or other Vatican officials as Italy considers giving more rights to gays. [More...]

Update: This story is getting picked-up by many places it seems. I'd like to see the original text ... anyone have it handy? Thanks.

Update 2: I guess what surprises me about this story is that it tries to give the impression that these positions taken by Amato are new (they're not) and that the Catholic Church in Rome is this huge political propaganda machine:

Italy's Roman Catholic Church, set up on diocesan and parish levels, has the organizational machinery to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people. A huge turnout, which is expected, could be a major embarrassment for Prodi's government.

The church is more than a union, and being "set up on a diocesan and parish levels" isn't for the sake of political activism. This kind of structure is employed by the worldwide Church, after all.

So, let's step back for a moment and see how the various sides in this debate are portrayed:

In the one corner we have the Roman Catholic Church, with its "organization machinery" to "mobilize" "a huge turnout" causing "major embarassment" to its enemies, and led by the deadly-duo of Pope Benedict and Cardinal Angelo Amato (grainy file photo featured in this article ... because they're movements are shadowy and it's difficult to pin-down their whereabouts at any given time):


In the other corner you have - I kid you not - from the photo that accompanies this article, "Members of gay and lesbian associations throw[ing] flowers as they demonstrate on St. Peter's square at the Vatican":


Who do you sympathize with? Which side is clearly in the right? The vitriolic organizers of a geopolitical highly-organized machine? Or the gents tossing flowers in tuxedos?

[photo 1 source: The Daily Telegraph]

[photo 2 source: Dario Pignatelli/Reuters]